


Consequences of Chances Not Given

by ImaKaraTabiHe



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Abandonment, Bat Family, Bitterness, Drabble, Dysfunctional Family, Emotional Hurt, Family Issues, Leaving Home, Loss of Trust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2017-02-10
Packaged: 2018-09-23 07:11:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 647
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9645782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImaKaraTabiHe/pseuds/ImaKaraTabiHe
Summary: Dick wants to know why Damian is leaving, but the answer is devastating.





	

“Damian.”

Damian looked up, pausing in packing his things, duffle on his bed yet to be filled to the brim with his belongings.  He raised an eyebrow, looking silently at Dick with a level of emotional control that reminded him so much of Bruce.

“You’re not leaving,” Dick said, leaning against the door frame, arms crossed over his chest.

‘Not leaving’?  Damian snorted with vague amusement.  “Yes, Grayson.  I am.”  He padded across the room and plucked one of his throwing stars up, tossing it into his duffle.  His mother had given them to him before she’d left him in his father’s care.  Regardless of whatever had become of the relationship between them, they still mattered to him.

“Why?” Dick demanded.  “Damian, why do you want to leave?”  He watched as Damian threw the bare essentials into his bag, ignoring a picture of the bat family together on the dresser.  He didn’t even give it a second of his attention.  Dick needed to know why.

“Actually, it’s not ‘want to leave’, it’s ‘is leaving’, Grayson, and it doesn’t matter why,” Damian stated, eyes gliding over him like ice.

“Yes, it does.  If it’s about Bruce’s decision to keep you in training, it’s no big deal.  We all trained our butts off,” Dick expressed, silently pleading Damian to understand.

Zipping up his things in the duffle, Damian chuckles bitterly.  “I’ve trained since I was old enough to kill, but Father insists it’s not good enough,” he retorted.  “I’ve trained longer and harder than any of you know.”

Dick’s heart clenched, aching at the thought of Damian as a boy going through copious amounts of training.  “We know that, Damian.  Bruce knows, he just… He needs to be able to trust you.  Everyone needs to be able to trust you”

“You’re saying I’ll betray Father and all of you one day?”

Backtracking, Dick corrects, “No.  It’s just that you need to give us - him - a chance.”

Damian stares at him, not even blinking for several long minutes before he bursts out laughing.  He laughs longer and louder than Dick has ever seen or thought he was capable of.  Dick is officially concerned and very confused.

When Damian finally comes down from his laughing fit and whatever triggered it, he rubs his stomach as if he laughed so hard it hurt.  Dick really wants to know what’s going on.

“You want me to ‘give you all a chance’?” Damian questioned, close to laughter with absurdity.

Dick slowly nods, a frown on his face as butterflies dance in his stomach.

Damian’s eyes narrow to cold, icy slits.  “None of you ever gave me a chance.  I don’t see the point in giving any of you one.”

Breath caught in his throat as a hand flies to his tightening chest, Dick chokes on guilt.

“Now,” Damian continues, ignorant or just without care for Dick’s sudden state, “I have a bus to catch.  I wouldn’t want to be late for the orientation of my new school in Keystone.  From what I’ve read, the rules are very fair yet strict - as expected of a famous private school.”  He pulls his bag up, holding the large duffle in his hand.

His eyes meet Dick’s, determined and bitter.  “Give my regards to Pennyworth, as well as my insincere greetings to Todd and Drake.  Father already knows that I appreciate the financial support for this endeavor and that I’ll having my own money from my accounts overseas transferred in a few days.  I’ll repay the loan then.”  He gives Dick one last look over.  “Have a good life, Grayson, and try not to die.”

Dick remains frozen in place, drowning in self-hatred and feeling as though Damian had struck a fatal blow on him.  He recovers, but when he turns around, Damian is gone.  His little brother is gone.

‘What have we done?  What have _I_ done…’

**Author's Note:**

> Randomly wrote this early in the morning. Not a clue why I wrote it, but yeah.


End file.
